It's a Girl!

Went to the animal shelter to renew Riley and Capper's registration and fell in love with Nala!

Introducing the newest member of the Banker family....Nala....a 3 yr. old min. pin.....we just love her!

Happy Birthday K-Man!

K-Man is 3!!

Wow, to say that the past 3 years have flown by would be a huge understatement! I can't believe that my baby boy is 3 already! Luckily for me, he is still a mama's boy and loves being the baby. He doesn't seem like he's in as much of a hurry to grow up as Carver always has been, and that's fine by me. :)

He was a precious baby boy....as stubborn then as he is now....wouldn't open his eyes no matter how hard we tried! :)

Such a sweet 1 year old....he might give me grief for cutting off all of his hair back then, but he was still adorable! :)

You can see the mischievous twinkle in his eye at 2....

And man, can you resist that 3 year old smile?!?!?! I can't! :)

He's had a wonderful birthday so far....look for a post soon with a full photographic update on all of the birthday fun! :)

It's Cubbies Season Again! :)

The weather was perfect, we all had a blast, and the Cubbies beat the Brewers....couldn't have been a better day!

....and then there's 7-11

7-11....that's what we've started calling Carver.....because his mouth has been open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week lately! :) Man, I don't know where he gets it ;) but that boy can talk! The crazy part is, he is so smart, so he's not talking nonsense, he is usually asking questions or telling us EVERYTHING that he knows! :) To be honest, he makes me feel pretty stupid sometimes because he's constantly asking me questions that I don't know the answers to....I told him the other day that he really keeps me on my toes, I think he liked that. :)

5 has been fun for Carver, but as he's been saying recently, "It's hard to be 5!" We came across a great book by that title at the library right around his birthday, and man it fits him perfectly!! It is fun being 5, but it's hard too....people expect more of you now that you're 5, but it's still difficult to be good at only 5 years old. Such a good book!

It really is amazing how much Carver has changed over the last year....he has really started to learn to control his behavior and although he still has his struggles, he is learning to make better choices and to think before doing things.

That being said, have I mentioned how smart this kid is? He knows when he needs to be good, and he knows how to make a good impression. I laugh everytime that I take Kayden to Carver's school and the other parents just ooh and aah over how nice the boys are to each other and what a great big brother Carver is. Don't get me wrong, Carver is a good big brother, but he is still a 5 year old boy who doesn't like to share his toys, his space, his parents, or any ounce of attention that he can get! He loves his brother, but sometimes he loves to antagonize his brother more than he likes to play with him or take care of him. ;)

So, let's see, what is a 5 year old Carver into...besides making his brother and mommy and daddy crazy? He loves being outside riding his bike, running around, kicking a soccer ball, and playing t-ball (he's just started Little League t-ball and he loves it...I'll write a post about it soon). He also really loves movies and really looks forward to his weekly movie night. He loves any one on one time he can get with mommy or daddy or Memaw or Grandma and cherishes having all of the attention, all for himself, whenever he can get it. I honestly thought that he was young enough when Kayden was born that he would not be too jealous and wouldn't really miss being the center of everyone's universe....I was wrong! :)

Carver also loves to make us laugh....I just melt when I see that smile with a twinkle in his eye when he knows he's being funny. And that loud, goofy laugh when he is roaring at his own jokes. :) He has always known how to deliver a punchline and how to really make people giggle....and he's still at it!

I see so much of myself in Carver....it's kind of scary. ;) He may look like his daddy, but he has a lot of my personality. He has a very strong will, and won't let anything get in his way when he sets his mind to something. He is very competitive (again, I can't imagine where he gets that ;) ), can have a bit of a temper ;), and is a bit of a perfectionist. Sometimes I feel badly that I've passed some of these traits on to him, they can be very difficult to deal with, but I am glad that I have had to learn to live with these traits my whole life, so that I can teach him how to handle his emotions and to rein in his strong will when it starts to get out of hand. :) Besides, there are some good traits that go along with these that he has inherited as well....he is a very hard worker and is very passionate when it comes to things that he loves to do. And you know the best part about his personality?!?!?! HE LOVES LIFE! He truly loves to just live life to the fullest everyday and to see what fun he can find. :)

It is hard to believe that Carver is going to be in kindergarten next year....all day...everyday. I know it's going to be harder on me than it will be for him, he's ready. Some would say that with his outgoing, fearless personality he's been ready for a while. I know it's true, and it's one of the things I love about him, he is so gung ho and always up for a new adventure and eager to learn something new. I'm just going to miss my baby being with me so much (even though he does talk too much and defintitely annoys me and tries my patience A LOT!). I know he'll do great though!

The future holds great things for Carver, and that's good, because he won't accept anything less from whatever he chooses to do in his life. He's grabbing life by the horns and enjoying the ride, and teaching us all a few things along the way! :)

My name is K-Man!

It's hard to believe that our baby K-Man is going to be 3 in less than 2 weeks. It seems like we were just struggling to even conceive him, and then waiting while he showed us his stubborness....showing up 2 days past his due date....and then making a very quick and dramatic entrance into this world! He has been such a blessing and a wonderful addition to our family.

That being said....he is an almost 3 year old boy! He is a feisty little guy with a mind all his own. Since he was just a baby, he has not been one to be pushed around and he lets his brother (and his mommy and daddy) know who is BOSS! :)

Feisty is one way to describe K-Man's personality.....ornery is another more accurate term. :) He seems to like to make trouble and he is just so darn cute when he's doing it, that it is often hard not to laugh when we're telling him no or trying to punish him.

....See what I mean? :)

Besides being a little on the naughty side....K-Man is also a little dare devil. We call him our little monkey, because he isn't afraid to climb on anything! I shouldn't really be surprised....he's been following his brother up to the top of the highest slides at the park since he was a year old. He is one tough little cookie though.....the first week that we were able to be outside this spring he ended up with one side of his face all scraped up and then the very next day ended up with a knot on his head....climbing and falling outside is a little harder and more painful than falling inside on the squishy carpet and soft playroom floor. :) But, he bounced right back each time and was right back on top of something before we knew it.

Our little man is so excited to turn 3, and he's been asking when he gets to go to school for a while now. He was so thrilled to go to preschool round up a few weeks ago...he loved being the center of attention and all of the teachers are so excited that they will have another Banker boy for the next 2 years. :) They have all gotten to see Kayden come and go with Carver for the last 2 years and have come to love him, as anyone that meets Kayden does.

That being said....I have to wonder if they will have their hands full with this little guy....he insists that his name is K-Man and will not even acknowledge that his name really is Kayden. I guess I never saw that coming when I said, "Hold on K-Man..." when he was just a little bit swinging in his swing... it stuck and now we've got a cute little man that thinks his name is K-Man. :) He has a very strong personality which is really adorable right now....but as we've seen with Carver it's cute...until he gets a little bigger and his little antics aren't so cute anymore. :)

Kayden is so smart and ridiculously funny.....this kid knows how to make you laugh! :) He has the sense of humor of a 3 year old boy.....thinking that tacking "poo poo" or "pee pee" on to the end of anything will make it funny....which it does, but he also has a sense of humor beyond his years and he puts a smile on your face quicker than anyone could ever know how to. Whether it's his little jokes (which he is of course the first to laugh at), or the fact that he can't say his "S" sounds yets, or just the way he says so much in his cute litte baby voice...he keeps us smiling.

I really can't imagine our lives without our little K-Man....he is one special little boy and he is going to grow up to be one special man. I really can't wait to see what the future holds for him....or what our futures hold because he is in them!

Hoppy Easter

He is risen! He is risen indeed! Carver has been asking all week when we get to sing Hallelujah....and today we did! The boys even got to sing in front of the congregation at church....really cute! :)

We have had a fantabulous Easter! The pictures are kind of backwards working through our fun filled week...so we'll start with one of our many Easter egg hunts...

Here are crash 1.....

And crash 2, hunting for eggs at Grandma and Grandpa's house....wearing their new bike helmets that the Easter bunny brought. :) They wore them in the car all the way there today. :)

My handsome boys, looking good and ready for church.....

Could they be any cuter?

Me and my boys....they wanted to take a picture in the mirror while we were waiting for daddy to get ready....turned out pretty good I think. :)

The boys with Grandma and Grandpa in their new rain coats and boots.....

These boys are pretty spoiled....they got to spend time with Memaw and Papa last night (yeah, I forgot the camera...oops!) and Grandma and Grandpa today. I hope they realize how blessed they really are to have such great family to spend time with.

Here's another very spoiled boy.....Riley was keeping a good eye on the boys Easter candy....stealing jelly beans whenever we weren't watching. :)

Capper wanted in on the Easter fun too....here she is trying on K-Man's new bike helmet. :)

K-Man had fun after hunting eggs at our house this morning.....

And Carver was happy to show off his loot.....

They were pretty happy with everything that the Easter bunny brought....and pretty excited to get to eat candy in the morning! Kayden's been talking about it all week and he took full advantage today. :)

My mom's group had an Easter egg hunt/party earlier this week and the boys had fun hunting eggs and seeing lots of friends.....mommy had fun because the boys have been really into being nice to each other and showing everyone how much they love each other when we're out and about lately. :) Now, if I could only get them to look like this all the time at home..... :)

Here are the boys showing off the eggs that they decorated and the bunny bags they made......

Having some fun at Carver's school Easter party.....

psst...that's Carver's "girl" friend Taylor to his left..... :)

Hope you all had a great Easter too. I'm going to work on getting a general update up on the boys this week.....so check back soon. :)